


The Babysitters at Bleecker Street

by WindChimeGhost



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Animals, Baby, Cute, Ficlet, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Magic, Minotaur - Freeform, NOT endgame compliant, Not Infinity War compliant, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Shapeshifting, Short One Shot, Short Story, alien - Freeform, babyLoki, spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:51:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindChimeGhost/pseuds/WindChimeGhost
Summary: Loki is accidentally turned into a baby by a spell gone wrong. The Cloak of Levitation and Rintrah are in charge of babysitting. But things turn difficult for the two when Loki starts showing a fondness for shapeshifting into baby animals.





	The Babysitters at Bleecker Street

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Comments are welcomed. But critique is not desired ~
> 
> This is a little ficlet I started writing last year but ended up putting away when life got busy. Thought I’d pull it back out and actually finish it since I’m working toward cleaning out my WIP fanfic folder this year.
> 
> This fic was inspired by some fanart I drew of the Cloak of Levitation holding a baby Loki. Here’s a link to the pic: https://www.deviantart.com/twintwosgirl/art/The-Babysitter-at-Bleecker-Street-735691188 (You have to be a member of Deviantart to view it.)
> 
> I have to confess, this fic was challenging (albeit fun) to write due to the two main characters not talking or having any dialogue. It was awkward for the first part of it. I had to figure out how I was going to approach it and write the Cloak of Levitation as an actual character in a fic of its own.
> 
> And I know Rintrah hasn’t appeared in the MCU yet (and a lot of people probably aren’t familiar with him unless you’ve read the Dr. Strange comics), but I decided to throw him in anyway just to have another character (other than Strange at the very end) that actually talks. Then from there, I thought it’d be fun to have him struggling with trying to figure out what Cloak is saying and communicating to him throughout the whole ordeal of looking after baby Loki. And it just seemed natural to have Cloak using gestures to communicate. Since the cloak reminds me a lot of Carpet from Disney’s Aladdin (who communicates with body language and gestures), I pulled some inspiration from that to make up the difference.
> 
>  
> 
> Loki, Dr. Strange, and all related characters © Marvel  
> Fanfic and plot ©2019 by me (please do not take, use, or edit without permission)

The Cloak of Levitation hovered over Doctor Strange’s desk in the study room of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

After fastening the fresh diaper, it pulled up the small pair of black leather trousers. Soft coos and gurgles came in response from the tiny, dark-haired baby that squirmed and kicked, knocking off one of Strange’s old spell books.

Everything in the surrounding area, including the cloak’s beautiful material, was lightly dusted with baby powder. Discarded baby wipes, diapers, and a smashed tube of diaper rash cream were scattered over the desk and the floor, attesting to a hard war having been recently won. A dark pee streak soiled one side of the cloak—the all too familiar battle scar one acquires from changing the diaper of a male infant.

The small form of Loki kept his eyes fixed on the cloak while he gummed his fingers, drool oozing down the sides of his mouth. The two large, bright green eyes curiously sized up the unusual being that was currently busying itself with cleaning up the desk. It was like a living blankie!

Loki giggled when the cloak fumbled and dropped the baby powder bottle for the fifth time, causing a white dust cloud to spew into the air. For some reason, it never got old to the little tyke.

Once all items were safely returned to the bag on the floor, the cloak stretched out fingerless cloth hands and gently picked up Loki and swaddled him in its folds, patting his back.

Loki squealed with delight, grasping the cloth in his tiny hands and tugging.

All of this was the tragic, cute result of a magic spell accident. Apparently, from the story Thor quickly told before leaving, Loki sneezed and said the wrong word during an incantation. Not knowing what to do, Thor left him in the care of Doctor Strange, hoping the Midgard sorcerer could help his brother. Strange had been reluctant to accept the child at first but eventually relented. However, he still wasn’t pleased in the slightest over the new responsibility of looking after a baby form of the God of Mischief.

But then again, better for him to be in the sanctorum, under Strange’s watchful eyes than somewhere else. Ever since the Asgard refugees landed on earth and Strange learned of Loki becoming a resident, the Sorcerer Supreme found himself not sleeping well at nights.

Since Loki’s spell books were lost along with the city of Asgard, it would take Strange a while to figure out the counterspell to the one Loki inflicted on himself. He vowed to work on it as much as possible so that Loki could be turned back to his former self and handed back to Thor.

The Cloak of Levitation, on the other hand, took an instant liking to the baby, which Strange welcomed. During the times he was busy working on the counter spell, he passed on the responsibility of caring for Loki to his cloak.

The cloak nuzzled its collar around Loki’s face, and Loki squealed with laughter even more. While continuing to pat Loki’s back, Cloak floated to the kitchen and slid him down into a highchair.

Loki kept his eyes on the floating cloth while he beat the palms of his hands against the highchair’s tray and gurgled, blowing spit bubbles. He watched in fascination as Cloak filled a mug full of milk and pushed it into the microwave and punched in a time. While the milk heated, Cloak floated back to Loki, nuzzling his face again and ruffling his messy black hair.

Loki squealed and laughed, grabbing a piece of the material in his hands and tugging on it. Carefully, Cloak loosened Loki’s fingers and pulled his hand away.

The microwave let out a shrill beep.

Cloak gave Loki’s hair one more ruffle and flew over to take the milk out and funnel it into a bottle.

When Cloak turned around…Loki was gone.

The baby bottle almost slipped out of the cloth grip that held it. Frantically, Cloak twisted this way and that as it attempted to locate Loki, not understanding how he could have gotten out of the highchair. Try as it might, Loki was nowhere to be seen.

Then Cloak looked up and spotted him, and suddenly everything made sense. Loki was a shapeshifter, after all. And, as a baby currently, it was only natural that he would have fun exploring that talent.

High atop one of the cabinets over the refrigerator sat a black baby squirrel. It peered down at Cloak with shiny eyes and gave a chatter that sounded a lot like laughter.

Momentarily taken back by the sight, Cloak sat down the bottle and flew toward the squirrel. But before it could snatch up the animal, squirrel Loki leaped over Cloak’s shoulder and landed in the sink with a metallic flump.

Cloak pursued the squirrel, trying again to catch it. And for the next several minutes, the kitchen was full of chaos as Cloak chased after squirrel Loki—a sight that could only happen in the home of Doctor Strange.

Loki did everything imaginable to evade capture, seeing Cloak’s pursuit of him being a game of tag.

He jumped onto the cabinet doors, swinging them open. He crawled over the contents inside as he attempted hiding, toppling cereal boxes, knocking over bottles, and rolling out cans. He swung from the skillets and pans hanging on the walls, clanging them together like bells. He knocked off dish towels and the toaster. He got into another cabinet and scattered plates and bowls.

When squirrel Loki finally tired of wrecking the kitchen, he skittered out of the room and down the hallway while Cloak was busy looking for him in the cabinet under the sink.

It was at this moment when Rintrah, Strange’s apprentice, walked into the room. The green Minotaur peered around the kitchen, taking in the mess with one glance. He slowly, carefully made his way to the fridge, his big hooves stepping between bottles and boxes of spilled cereal. Opening the door, he took out a can of soda.

“Looks like you’ve been having a party in here,” he commented. He popped open the can, gulped down its contents, and smashed the empty can against his horned head.

Cloak flew up to him, flaring out and making all kinds of quick gestures, trying to convey what it wanted to say to the creature.

Rintrah let out a large belch. “Excuse me. I’m sorry, but I’m not following.”

Cloak lifted the folds of its cloth to imitate horns above its collar.

“Loki?”

Cloak made a nodding gesture.

“Loki did all this?”

Again, Cloak nodded.

“How could Loki do all this? He’s currently a baby.” Rintrah couldn’t help but chuckle. “Strange told me what happened.”

Cloak made a squirrel gesture with its cloth hands the best it could, then pointed from one cabinet to the next, miming how Loki had jumped around the room. But Rintrah failed to understand what it was talking about. He tilted his head to the side, lifting a hand to scratch at his hairy face.

“Yeah, sorry, you lost me after Loki. I—hey!” Cloak quickly flew into his face and flared out, nodding briskly. “What? You lost me?”

Cloak motioned for Rintrah to keep trying, again making the horned gesture.

“You…lost…Loki. Are you trying to tell me that you lost Loki?”

Cloak flew forward and pecked the hairy cheek, nodding.

“You want me to help you find him?”

Cloak nodded again and patted his shoulder.

“We’d better hurry. The sanctorum is no place for a baby to be running loose in.”

Cloak flew around the kitchen, looking in all the cabinets. Rintrah looked in the pantry and broom closet.

“I don’t see him,” Rintrah finally announced. He glanced at the door. “Could he have snuck out when you weren’t looking?” He tilted his head, studying the cloak. “Do you even look? I mean, you don’t have eyes…”

Cloak stood still, hovering beside the kitchen table, staring forward at the opened kitchen door. It never thought about that being a possibility. Wonderful. Loki could be anywhere by now.

Quickly, Cloak wrapped itself around Rintrah’s arm and pulled him toward the doorway.

“Hey, easy! I’ll go with you. I already said I’d help you look for him.”

Rintrah walked down the hall with Cloak floating beside him, his hooves thumping noisily and heavily on the hardwood floor. They searched rooms along the way, but there was no sign of Loki.

All of a sudden, Rintrah skidded to a stop midway, Cloak bumping into him. They watched as a black squirrel came out of one of the side rooms, ran diagonally, and squeezed through a crack in the door opposite.

Cloak flew up beside Rintrah’s head and pointed frantically at the squirrel.

“That’s a squirrel,” Rintrah said. “Must have come down from the attic.”

Cloak shook its collar and, again, pointed at the squirrel.

“If it’s not a squirrel, what is it?” Rintrah tilted his head.

Cloak made the horn gesture again.

“It’s Loki? How can it be Loki...” He thought a few seconds, finally putting two and two together. “Ahhh, he’s a shapeshifter. Right.”

Cloak patted him on the shoulder.

“That’s a closet so he couldn’t have gone far.” Rintrah pointed.

Cloak flew over and opened the door. Rintrah walked up behind, sticking his head inside. He snorted. “Phew, what’s that smell?”

Suddenly, he had a face full of cloth and everything went black.

“What the…?” Rintrah scrambled and backpedaled, trying desperately to pull Cloak off his face, but it kept getting hung around his horns. “I can’t see!”

Cloak flared out, finally unwinding from around Rintrah’s horns, and quickly exited the closet. And the Minotaur finally saw what Cloak was trying to get away from.

“Whoa!”

Both of them pressed against the far wall, afraid to move.

Slowly, a baby skunk walked out of the closet, tail straight up and poofed out. He was obviously pleased with the reaction he was getting.

“Go away. Shoo!” Rintrah waved toward the skunk. Cloak wrapped around his arm and shook its collar. “I don’t care if it IS Loki. He stinks! Now we have to clean the whole closet.”

Skunk Loki hopped and slid on the slick floor, walking past Rintrah and Cloak.

Cloak nudged Rintrah’s arm, pointing at the skunk.

“I’m not gonna pick him up. _You_ do it.”

Loki bounded down the hallway, his back feet slipping out from under him. He turned a corner and shakily disappeared down another hall.

Rintrah finally moved, taking a few steps forward. Cloak flew in the direction Loki did, peeking cautiously around the corner. It motioned for Rintrah to come closer.

“What is it?” he said, joining Cloak and looking around to see what had the article of enchanted clothing so excited.

Ahead of them, in the middle of the hall, sat baby Loki in his normal humanoid form. He looked straight at them, clapping his hands and giggling as if they were the most hilarious thing he ever saw—and they probably were.

“He’s turned back to normal,” Rintrah said.

Simultaneously, Rintrah and Cloak rushed forward, but they passed right through the little trickster the moment they touched him. The form dissipated in a greenish wisp.

“It was an illusion!”

It figured. But if it was an illusion then that meant Loki wasn’t far away. While Rintrah struggled to pick himself up, Cloak quickly flew around, trying to pinpoint where the real Loki was hiding. It finally spotted him crawling out from behind an old urn.

Cloak flew over and grabbed up Loki and held him tightly against itself. It returned to Rintrah, who was now standing upright again.

“You caught him!”

Loki gurgled and cooed, squirming and kicking his tiny feet, wanting Cloak to let go of him. He started to wail, making Rintrah wince and step away. Cloak lifted him to its collar, nuzzling the infant trickster. Loki hushed his crying for a second, then restarted. Suddenly, he vanished out of Cloak’s hold.

“Wha??” Rintrah blinked. “Teleported?”

Cloak flew up and put a hand over Rintrah’s mouth to shush him and pointed up. They stood silent and listened. Off in the distance, they could hear Loki’s laughter echoing eerily through the halls as if he were a ghost.

“Ah! I know where he is. Come with me.” Rintrah led them to a closed door on the second floor (or was it the third floor? It was hard to tell how many floors the sanctorum had). Here he opened it to reveal a room full of staircases that led everywhere and nowhere. Some were turned upright while others were completely upside down. A few were twisted out of shape. Others were spiraled. In the center of the confusion floated a giggling Loki. He played with his feet as he floated upside down as if his head was heavier than his bottom.

“It happens every time someone teleports in the sanctorum for the first time,” Rintrah explained. “They always end up here. I’ve been bugging Strange to fix the problem.”

Not paying attention to Rintrah, Cloak floated forward cautiously and wrapped its folds around Loki, pulling him close. Loki blew a raspberry and kicked and squirmed.

“Better watch that he doesn’t shapeshift again.”

They took Loki downstairs to the kitchen, where Cloak finally succeeded in giving Loki his bottle. Rintrah raided the fridge, choosing for himself some leftover fried chicken and pizza. Cloak, on the other hand, busied itself with cleaning up the mess Loki made earlier.

“He sure is cute,” Rintrah said in between taking bites of chicken.

Not taking his mouth off the bottle’s nipple, Loki turned his eyes up to stare at the unusual creature beside him.

Rintrah smiled, finger waving. “Hi, little buddy. You’re cute.” He poked Loki’s nose playfully.

Loki smiled around the bottle’s nipple, milk dribbling out the corner of his mouth. He dropped his bottle on the highchair tray, lifting his hand up at Rintrah.

“Dah!” he chirped.

“You like them?” Rintrah asked, pointing at his horns. “You have horns, too, sometimes, don’t you?”

Loki squealed in response, patting the tray repeatedly with his tiny palm. His form melted into a squirrel.

“Hey! He’s doing it again!”

Cloak spun around, dropping the cereal boxes it was in the middle of putting in the cabinets.

Loki jumped out of the highchair and skittered across the room, stopping at the doorway.

Rintrah and Cloak were going to run after him but stopped.

“Wait, what’s he doing?”

Loki’s form started to glow green, his shape melting, expanding, growing bigger. Then before their eyes, there was a full-grown bull blocking the kitchen doorway.

“I thought he could only shift into baby animals,” Rintrah breathed.

Cloak shrugged, shaking its collar. It tapped Rintrah’s head.

“You’re saying he’s copying my head?”

Cloak nodded.

Bull Loki snorted and pawed the floor, lowering his head.

“Look out! He’s gonna charge!” Rintrah shouted.

Rintrah and Cloak sidestepped in opposite directions to get out of the way, just as Loki ran forward. He rammed his horns into the kitchen sink.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Rintrah grabbed hold of Cloak and bolted through the door. Loki turned and galloped after them, head down, horns straight forward.

Loki chased them into the front foyer. Rintrah was about to climb the stairs but thought better of it. If Loki managed to get up to the second floor, they could easily be cornered. Besides, priceless artifacts were scattered all over the house. The last thing they needed was a rampaging bull breaking everything.

Instead, Rintrah stood and waited. Cloak pulled itself free of his hand and hovered over his head.

They could hear things crashing and breaking as Loki ran through the halls and rooms. One could only guess what he was destroying.

Finally, he showed. He bounded into the foyer, charging toward Rintrah.

“You were cute a few minutes ago,” Rintrah said. “Now you’re just being silly.”

Before Loki could gore him, Rintrah grabbed hold of Loki’s horns and pushed against him, holding him in place.

Loki jerked from side to side, attempting to break free of the hold. He pushed forward, causing Rintrah to almost lose his footing.

“You’re strong for a little guy,” Rintrah grunted. “But not strong enough.” Twisting to the side, he overturned Loki. The room shook under the weight of Loki’s bull body coming in contact with the floor.

The bull melted, and in its place was a humanoid baby, kicking and crying. Cloak dived and scooped up Loki, cradling him in its folds and doing whatever it could to quiet him.

Doctor Strange appeared at the top of the staircase. “What’s going on down there? I thought you were going to babysit, not tear apart my house.”

Cloak held up Loki.

“He got away from us,” Rintrah explained. “Then he shapeshifted and teleported and shapeshifted again. He’s cute, but he’s a little troublemaker.”

As if understanding Rintrah’s words, Loki blew a raspberry at the Minotaur.

“He can be rude when he wants to be, too,” Rintrah added.

Strange shook his head and walked down the stairs. “Not surprising considering he’s a trickster.” He held a book out to them. “Good news. I think I’ve finally figured out the counterspell, sooner than I expected.”

“Are you sure?”

“We’ll know in a minute.” Strange let go of his book and it hovered in mid-air beside him. He walked forward, looking Loki over. The trickster was in the process of gumming his fingers and spilling drool down the front of himself. “I almost want to take a picture to show him once he’s turned back to normal…or use as blackmail should the need arise.”

Rintrah chuckled.

“Well, here goes,” Strange positioned his fingers and began chanting mystical words.

At first, nothing appeared to be happening. Then Loki’s small form started to glow and grew larger in Cloak’s hold until the group was looking at a fully grown Loki, as he should be.

“Wha? What happened?” Loki peered around him at the odd group, disoriented. He gazed up at Rintrah, taking a step away from him. After all, the last muscled green guy used him for a rag doll. 

Cloak ruffled Loki’s hair. The trickster turned to look at it, confused. The article of clothing squeezed his face between one of its folds, turning it toward Rintrah. It leaned its collar against Loki’s head.

The Minotaur shrugged. “I guess he’s cute in this form, too, if you say so. Although, I much prefer him as a baby.”

Loki frowned and pulled away from Cloak, giving the floating cloth and odd look. He turned a questioning face to Strange.

“H-how did I end up in the sanctorum?”

Strange smiled. “It’s…a long story.”

 

-The End


End file.
